J.R. Rardon
Gazette staff
PORT McNEILL — A three-point pickup in the seventh end blunted the comeback of Ed Symons and lifted the rink of Lee and Kathy Mitchell to an 8-4 victory in the A final Sunday during the annual Broughton Curling Club mixed bonspiel.
Symons, trailing 5-1 through four ends, picked up two points in the fifth and another in the sixth to close to 5-4. But the Mitchells put the match away with their big end in final, which pit a pair of rinks from the local club.
Both teams advanced with close shaves in Saturday's semifinals. The Mitchells, curling with Bill Wheeldon and Tina Scott, outdueled Tom Baker 9-7 in a game that went down to the final stone. Symons, curling with wife Tammy and Cliff and Eileen Lovestrom, made a razor-thin pass by a guard to clear the potential tying stone in a 7-5 win over Bert Forsberg, who went on to place third in the A division while curling with Diane Forsberg and Trent and Marcia Soper.
In the B final, the Balcke rink of Mike and Debbie Balcke, son Keith and daughter Jennifer, rode a big five-point pickup in the third end to victory over John Maday of Port Hardy. The Balckes, of Port McNeill, eventually pushed their lead to 9-4 before forcing handshakes after six ends. Maday curled with Meagan Cadwallader, Joe Godmaire and Lora Nault.
The Gord Jones rink finished third in the B division.
In the C final, Trevor Waddell's Port McNeill rink held off a late charge by Port Hardy's Dave Bjornson to claim an 8-7 win. Nick Russell and Neva Perrott shared skip duties for Waddell, whose rink included Helen Gurney.
Bjornson was joined by Verna Carlson and John and Denise MacDonald.
Next up on the local bonspiel schedule is the Port Alice mixed open, scheduled for this weekend and sponsored in part by Neucel Specialty Cellulose. For more information, call Len Martin at 250-284-3470 or email portalicecurling@gmail.com.